Part of the Collection
by Tokiro7
Summary: Alyss, once a GeneCo employee in severe debt, now lives her life freely following the death of Rotti. Her peace suddenly takes a surprising turn, however, when three strangers in blood-stained lab coats abduct her. OC/OC
1. Petty Obsessions

_This is my first time writing fanfics, so please don't be upset with my crappy story-telling. I've never been very good at writing, but I can take any criticism you guys can dish you, so please be honest if you take the time to review my stories. The way I see it, it can only help me learn where to improve, so be brutal._

_Repo! is property of Terrence Zdunich, Darren Smith and Darren Lynn Bousman. GeneCo, Amber, Rotti, Grave-Robber and any other characters who show up in this story that were in the movie are also their property. Alyss is property of my girlfriend, as she came up with her and simply letting me use her character. All other characters belong to me._

_The first two chapters of the story are based off of some drawings my girlfriend did which recount essentially the same events, but the way she tells the story is a bit different. But, the drawings are really good, so I recommend checking them out. Check them and other drawings out at her deviantart account, IshiKaru . Go to her Repo! The Genetic Opera collection for the drawings of the story._

* * *

Chapter 1: Petty Obsessions

2059. Three years following the death of Rotti Largo. GeneCo is now run by Amber Sweet, Rotti's daughter. Repossessions are still an active practice. The Repo-Men still roam the streets, blending into the unsuspecting crowds. With the hand of GeneCo now considerably weakened, the Grave-Robbers have become more active. Some are more careful, however, as the security on graveyards has been increased to compensate for the rise of grave robbing. Because of this, a new form of Grave-Robber has arisen: The Zydrate Retrievers. More cunning and skilled, the Retrievers aid the Grave-Robbers steal zydrate from the bodies of the deceased. Our story follows one of these Retrievers; a woman named Alyss, now around 30. Formerly a GeneCo employee, she now works with the Grave-Robbers. Free from the obligation she once had to GeneCo, she lives her life as she sees fit. Unbeknownst to her, however, there is someone else with their eyes on her…

* * *

Alyss placed her newly attained zydrate in her bag, cursing to herself about allowing that 'idiotic' Grave-Robber to trick her into doing his dirty work again.

"Tch…" she scoffed to herself. "I should make that jackass do this himself some time…" Alyss walked out of the graveyard, carefully avoiding the attention of the guards. Once she was a distance away from the gate, she sat down to have a little rest. She looked up at the moon and admired its glow, only to have one of GeneCo's flying billboards block her view with an advertisement for a new type of eye that lets you zoom in to see things on a microscopic level.

"Hmph…who the hell would buy something so stupid…" Alyss whispered begrudgingly, putting her hand over where her right eye would be. She got up and walked towards the rendezvous point with the Grave-Robber, unaware of the figure watching her from atop the building behind her.

"Oh, she's cute," said the shadow. "Can't really blame him for wanting her. Heh…maybe he'll let me borrow her sometime…" Realizing that Alyss was getting out of view, the figure jumped to the next rooftop to continue pursuit.

* * *

WHAM! Alyss kicked the dumpster in front of her. A loud thud emanated from inside and a loud yelp could be heard. The dumpster opened, and out came a Grave-Robber, rubbing his head.

"Why do you always have to be so rough? I was taking a nap," the Grave-Robber complained, as this was not the first time Alyss had so rudely awakened/injured him.

"The same reason you can never get your own damn Glow anymore," she said disdainfully, dropping the bag full of zydrate on his head where he had hurt himself. He opened the bag and counted the number of vials.

"A few of them seem to be missing…" the Grave-Robber frowned, knowing full well how many vials he had given Alyss.

"Consider it a finder's fee," Alyss chuckled, flaunting one of the vials she had kept for herself. The Grave-Robber pouted almost comically. "Don't give me that face. It's not like I got caught or anything…unlike someone…" Alyss rolled her eye, referencing the very Grave-Robber she was speaking to.

"You say that as if I do it on purpose," he said with a ridiculous puppy-dog type face.

"Yes, well, I'd be more inclined to believe you if you didn't make yourself so conspicuous…Honestly," she said, folding her arms and glaring at him like an angry mother, "Screaming at the top of your lungs isn't exactly the best way to avoid attention!" The Grave-Robber smiled and shrugged.

"What's the fun of grave robbing if there isn't a sense of danger?" he asked innocently. It was obvious that this wasn't what he was thinking, though. His tone suggested to Alyss that what he meant by that was "I honestly don't give a damn what you think," though he knew if he said that, the claw gloves that Alyss used for moving dirt while digging (and to look cool) would be digging through his intestines within seconds. Alyss shook her head, rather disappointed in the Grave-Robber's attitude. The Grave-Robber went back into the dumpster and closed the lid. He then peeked his head back out. "By the way," he said quickly, "thanks for getting me my Glow." He winked at her and reclosed the lid. Alyss then kicked the dumpster as hard as she could. Another loud thud and yelp came from the dumpster as Alyss walked away. Meanwhile, on the rooftop, the figure was still watching her, but now with two others. The clouds parted, and the moonlight shown on them, seemingly highlighting the glistening blood that stained their white coats. One of the two whistled.

"That girl's got some fight in her, don't she?" the figure said with an almost sarcastic chuckle. The third figure simply closed his eyes. He stood up and looked down on Alyss as she entered the alleyway just below them.

"Let's move," he said to the other two figures. The two nodded and prepared to confront their prey.


	2. L'Dramatico Entrance

Chapter 2: L'Dramatico Entrance

Alyss turned the corner and walked down the alleyway. As she approached the end of the alley, she heard footsteps behind her. She turned quickly to see three figures in blood-splattered white coats. The one on the left was blonde with long hair. Though it was dark, Alyss could make out the blonde's belly-button and quite obvious cleavage. Clearly a girl, Alyss thought. The girl wore a green shirt under her labcoat. The other two were both male with short black hair. The right one wore a grey shirt, and the central one wore red. Alyss assumed the red shirt was the leader of the three. Alyss reached slowly for her gun, careful not to let the three strangers see.

"Who the hell are you people?" Alyss demanded as her hand reached her gun. The green-shirt flicked her hair and eyed Alyss up and down, analyzing her. She smirked. The grey-shirt seemed to be grinding his teeth. The red-shirt simply stood there, staring directly ahead at Alyss, not taking his eyes off of her face. Alyss called out again. "Hey! I asked who you are!" Just as she was about to pull her gun on them, she felt a sudden pain in the back of her head. She fell to the ground, her gun slipping from her fingers. As she started to black out, her vision blurred, and splotches of red, green, and grey entered her line of vision. Just before she lost consciousness, she could've sworn she saw some blue in the mix as well.

* * *

As she started to wake up, Alyss felt a sharp pain in her wrists. Ropes, she assumed. Whoever knocked her out had clearly tied up her and brought her with them. She figured she was now tied to a chair, as she felt she was sitting up. Her eyes weren't quite open yet, as she was still rather drowsy. She lifted her head and tried to open her eyes. Her head fell towards the right, and she noticed several shelves lining the walls, all holding several jars. The jars each contained various organs suspended in what she assumed was formaldehyde in order to preserve them. The only thing not in a jar was a spine hanging on the wall, hung up as if it was a prized trophy. She noticed that her vision was not tinted green as it usually was, meaning that her captors had removed the eyeglass she normally wore. She moved her head back to its normal position, but had trouble holding it up. She was looking down at this point, her eyes closed. She finally managed to lift her head and open her eyes. As she opened her eyes, she was shocked to see that she was staring directly into a pair of bright green eyes. Alyss let out a gasp, not having suspected there to be another person in the room. Her sight started to come back to her and she noticed that this was the man in the red shirt from before. She tried to struggle, but the ropes seemed to only constrict her more and more. When she found it was no use, she tried to cut the rope with her claw gloves, but quickly discovered that those were missing as well. She sighed and looked back up at the red-shirted man. She noticed several bright red bloodstains on his coat, glistening, suggesting that they were fresh. She wondered if the blood was her own. It might be, she thought, but she couldn't feel any pain. This would make sense though, she figured, as they had likely drugged her. She then noticed a jar containing a heart behind the man. The formaldehyde is red, as opposed to that in the rest of the jars. Alyss concluded that this heart was recently put in the jar, so she could assume that it wasn't her blood on the man's coat. She tried to ask who he was, but she hadn't quite regained her ability to speak.

"Who are you?" she said weakly. At least, that's what she thought she'd said. What really came out was "Whoreu?" The man's solemn scowl seemed to arch on the right side to form a barely noticeable smile. Clearly he was amused at Alyss' failed attempt to ask who he was. He was still able to figure out what she said, though, so he decided to oblige her with an answer.

"My name is Jack," said the red-shirted man.

"A…Al…Alss…" was all that Alyss was able to manage saying.

"Oh, I know your name," Jack said with a chuckle. Alyss wasn't too happy about how he'd said that. It implied to her that he'd made her say that on purpose just to hear her slur it. "You see," he continued, "I've been watching you for some time now. I think that you would make a nice addition to my team." Jack leaned in closer to Alyss, their noses almost touching. Alyss looked away from him and saw that there was a door to her left. Jack grabbed her hair and pulled her head back, annoyed at being ignored. Alyss let out a short scream, but stopped herself under the assumption that this 'Jack' character was pretty sick and would just get a kick out of it. Jack stared angrily into Alyss eyes. "It's not polite to look away from someone when they're talking to you." Alyss scoffed and looked away again. Jack grabbed her face and forced her to look at him. Just as their eyes met again, Alyss took a deep breath and spat on Jack's face. Jack recoiled in disgust and surprise, his eyes slammed shut. He wiped the saliva off of his face and promptly flung it to the floor with a flick of his wrist. The next thing Alyss knew, Jack's hand was clasped tightly around her neck. She tried to gasp, but found it rather difficult to breathe, her windpipe being crushed by her captor's tight grip. As she futilely struggled for breath, she felt Jack's grip loosen slightly. Before she could process what was going on, her lips were suddenly occupying the same space as Jack's. Alyss tried to pull away, but Jack's hand was keeping her head firmly in place. She glanced towards the door and saw a blonde boy in a black shirt and the same blood-stained uniform as Jack and the other two. The boy's eyes grew inhumanly wide, his jaw gaping open.

"I'MSORRYTOINTRUDE!" he yelled as he ran away in what Alyss could only describe as pure terror. Alyss dismissed the brief interruption and refocused her attention on the man violating her lips. By this point, she had stopped resisting. After a moment, she thought about it and realized that this was her first kiss. No one else had ever tried, as Alyss was, to put it nicely, intimidating. But this man, whom she had never met before, was not afraid. Rather, he seemed confident. True, this bold move was off-putting, but Alyss couldn't help but feel slightly flattered. Alyss wasn't resisting anymore, but instead was starting to get into it. She let out a soft moan. Upon hearing this, Jack pulled away, but Alyss was too far gone in her mind. Her face was still in the position for kissing. Jack chuckled, and Alyss realized that he had pulled away. Alyss' face turned redder than the blood that stained Jack's coat and the shirt he wore under it. Jack puts his hand on her face and moves her hair out of the way of her right eye. Or at least, where her right eye was supposed to be. Jack examined the empty socket, curious as to its story.

"My my…" Jack said, almost sounding concerned. "What happened here?" Alyss felt embarrassed having this stranger touch her like that. She tried to turn away, but Jack held her head in place. "Who could've done this to such a beautiful face?" Alyss' felt a sudden mix of emotions. This sounded really creepy coming from the blood-stained man, but she'd never heard anyone call her beautiful before. She turned her head away quickly, not giving Jack time to get a firm grip on her again. He brushed his hand gently across her cheek. "Perhaps you'd like a replacement? I happen to have a few spares in my collection," he said almost flirtatiously. She turned her nose up indignantly and refuted the offer. "Heh…" chuckled Jack, "I wasn't really going to give it to you anyway." He walked towards the door. "I'll be right back," he said in the solemn tone he had earlier. He turned and went the same direction as the boy from before.

"Well…shit…" Alyss cursed to herself, realizing that she'd just been left tied up to a chair by herself. A shrill scream came from the hallway. Jack walked back in with a few drops of blood on his face.

"I'm sorry, where were we?" asked Jack. Alyss was speechless, but the violent act she imagined had just occurred intrigued her. Jack walked up to her and untied her. "Allow me to show you around." Jack took Alyss' hand and walked her to the door. As they walked down the hall, they came to a large chamber teeming with people in blood-splattered coats and black or white shirts. She looked out at the chamber, fascinated by the new setting. "Alyss," Jack said to her, "Welcome to Wonderland."


	3. Something's Changing

Chapter 3: Something's Changing

Alyss looked out into the room full of blood-stained strangers. She turned to Jack to ask him where she was and who they all were, but before she did, she noticed something she hadn't seen before. Now that she was looking at Jack from a side-angle, she noticed that he had a short pony-tail. For reasons she herself did not fully understand, Alyss found this adorable. She had the sudden urge to grab it and twist it around her fingers. Before her mind could fall too deep into the gutter, Alyss was brought back to her senses by Jack turning towards her. Alyss' face turned slightly red.

"Is something wrong?" Jack inquired.

"N…nothing…" Alyss said, flustered about the strange thoughts she was having about the man she had just met and who had kidnapped her. She shook her head a bit to regain her composure. "So…what exactly is this place?" Unfortunately for Alyss, Jack had noticed her embarrassment, but he decided not to mention it.

"This is our base," Jack informed her. "We are the Collectors." There was a pause for a few seconds.

"…AHAHAHAHAHA!" Alyss exploded with laughter. "'The Collectors'? HAHAHAHAHA!" Jack looked rather cross after hearing his organizations name laughed at. Jack interrupted Alyss laughter with a clearing of his throat. "Oh, you were serious, weren't you?" Jack looked a bit embarrassed and angry at the same time. Alyss was embarrassed as well, but her stubborn nature prevented her from apologizing. Jack turned away from Alyss to face the crowd in the room. Alyss felt a little strange for hurting Jack's feelings. "So…um…what do you guys do?" Jack looked back at her out of the corner of his eye.

"As our name suggests," he began, "we collect." Alyss looked extremely underwhelmed. "We don't collect just anything, however," he continued. "We collect organs." Alyss became slightly intrigued at this. This explained the jars full of organs. "More specifically, though, we collect the organs made by GeneCo." Upon hearing this, Alyss' full attention was on Jack. "I suppose you could think of us as Anti Repo-men. We steal organs from the Repo-men and keep them for ourselves." Jack had now turned back to face Alyss. "Those of us with smaller collections are either the Black or White Shirts. But, for us who have larger collections, our shirts have colors." Alyss' attention was brought to Jack's red shirt. "The Red Shirt is an honor to us. With it, I became the leader for having the largest collection." Now Alyss was really interested. Not only was Jack apparently the leader of this organization, but also an experienced killer and enemy to GeneCo. For a moment, Alyss was kind of glad that this man had stolen her first kiss. Then Alyss remembered something.

"Wait…I remember something…Back when I was working for GeneCo, there were several cases of organs that were supposed to be repossessed but never made it back…" Alyss pondered this for a moment. "…Was that…your doing?" Jack shrugged.

"It might've been. It could easily have been any of us though." Before Jack could explain any further, Alyss' hand had left a large red mark across his face.

"YOU SON OF A BITCH!" Alyss screamed. The other Collectors throughout the room all stopped what they were doing and turned to look at the commotion. "I WAS PUNISHED EVERY TIME THOSE ORGANS DIDN'T MAKE IT BACK!" Alyss' face was red with rage. "WHENEVER AN ORGAN WENT MISSING, IT WAS ADDED ON TO MY DE-". Alyss stopped herself before she could say any more. She felt no need to explain more. She turned around and stormed back to Jack's room. Jack followed. As he approached the door, Alyss slammed it shut, narrowly missing crushing his nose with it. Alyss flipped on the lights. She shook with anger, staring at the floor, upset that all of those times that she'd been blamed for losing organs and costing GeneCo money, it had been this man and his organization all along. She felt that she wanted to cry, but her pride forbade her from doing so. She didn't know why, though. She had just met this man, and yet she already felt that he had betrayed her. She looked around the room once more to get a good look at the organs she had been accused of losing. As she looked around the room, she noticed that the floor was littered with wood shavings. At the other end of the room, there was a small desk where the shavings seemed to be the most highly concentrated. Alyss made her way across the room to the desk. There was a carving knife sitting on top of it. She didn't see anything that could have been what was being carved. Then she noticed that the desk had drawers. The first drawer was empty. The second was locked. Alyss sighed. "If only I had my gloves…" she murmured to herself. The claws on the gloves had served her well in the past in picking locks. Alyss went over to the door and opened it. She expected to see Jack standing there, but instead, he had been sitting with his back against the door. With the door no longer supporting him, he fell onto his back before Alyss' feet. She stared down at him. "Where the hell are my gloves?" she demanded. Jack blinked.

"What gloves?" he asked innocently. Alyss' eyes narrowed. Jack was silent for a moment. He then reached into his blood-splattered lab coat and produced the gloves Alyss sought. Alyss snatched it from him swiftly and put it on. She walked back towards the desk. Jack stared at Alyss, wondering what it was she intended to do. As she started to pick that lock, Jack shot up and ran over to her. He grabbed her wrist. Alyss looked up at him. Jack's solemn expression from earlier returned. Alyss would have undoubtedly struck him if not for that gaze. There was something about those eyes. Alyss didn't know this feeling. It was unfamiliar to her. She imagined that it was what other people described as fear, but unbeknownst to her, it was an entirely different emotion. Alyss was not afraid of the man gripping her wrist. This was something new altogether, but she didn't know what. Alyss stood up and looked Jack in the eyes.

"I'm….sorry," Alyss said through her grinding teeth. Jack blinked in confusion, his solemn expression softening by a negligible degree, but still enough for Alyss to notice. She sighed. "I shouldn't have slapped you…Or tried to break into your desk." Alyss could not look at Jack as she apologized. It was against her nature to do so in the first place, so it was very hard for her to show such weakness. Jack stared at her. He was slightly confused.

"I'm sorry too," he replied. Now Alyss was the one who was confused.

"Why the hell are you sorry? Not like you did anything…" Jack's solemn face became more sad than serious. He turned his back to her.

"Look," he began, his tone much softer than usual, "I don't know exactly what happened to you, but somehow, I seem to have hurt you." Jack took a deep breath. "Whatever I did, I'm sorry. If it's about that kiss earlier-" but before he could continue, Alyss' arms were wrapped around Jack. Alyss shook her head.

"Well…I wouldn't say I didn't like it…" she whispered, embarrassed to admit that she had enjoyed it.

"What was that?"

"Oh nothing…" Alyss said to segue to a less awkward topic. "Anyway," Alyss continued. "You didn't do anything wrong." Jack turned his head to see Alyss out of the corner of his eye. When Alyss noticed that Jack was looking at her, she let go of him, embarrassed that she had done something so childish. Alyss blushed a little. "B…besides…" she stuttered, "You were stickin' it to GeneCo. I can take comfort in knowing that." Alyss couldn't look at Jack. She was too flustered with strange emotions she was unfamiliar with. She closed her eye and took a deep breath in an attempt to regain her composure. Just before she could however, she found herself being squeezed in Jack's arms. Alyss was stunned. She didn't know what to do, but instinctively put her arms around him. Alyss felt a strange warmth coming from Jack's body. A kind of reassuring warmth that made her feel safe. Alyss closed her eye and drifted off into her own mind. She didn't know what this feeling was, but she did know this: She liked it.


	4. I Don't Take Lip From A Slut

Chapter 4: I Don't Take Lip From A Slut

Alyss stood there in the arms of the man who had kidnapped and kissed her, basking in the warmth coming from him. She didn't know why she enjoyed this so much, but she did. Jack moved Alyss' hair from her face to more closely examine her missing eye. There were two parallel scars across the socket. Alyss' face turned a pinkish hue, slightly embarrassed to have Jack touching her face. Jack ran his thumb across the scars.

"…Alyss?" Jack asked to get her attention. Alyss was slightly surprised. This was the first time that Jack had addressed her by name. She looked up at him with a slight blush. He stared solemnly into the empty socket. "When you said that you were punished for our collections…Did you mean this?" Alyss turned her head away a bit. It wasn't a fond memory for her. She shook her head.

"No…" she said with a vague hint of depression. "This was from…something else…" Jack remained silent and nodded.

"I understand," he said as he placed his finger under Alyss' chin and turned her head back towards him. "I won't pry if you don't want me to." Jack's bright green eyes met with Alyss' dark brown eye. Somehow the tone in Jack's voice was reassuring to her. They closed their eyes and slowly brought their faces closer together. Alyss' face felt hot. Her heart raced. _What the hell am I doing, _she asked herself in her mind. _I don't even like this guy! _As she felt Jack's embrace tighten around her, her thoughts scattered, preventing her from further questioning her actions. Just as their lips began to make contact, there was a loud knock at the door. The two let go of each other and backed away quickly, turning towards the door to see who was there. Standing in the doorway was a blonde, long-haired woman in a green shirt. _The girl from before_, Alyss thought to herself. The girl strutted into the room as though she were royalty. She walked up to Jack and looked him right in the eye, looking rather angry.

"Just what the hell do y'all think yer doin'?" she demanded. The Green-Shirt took Alyss by the wrist and raised her hand to show Jack one of the claw gloves that Alyss was wearing. "Now, I'm not entirely sure, but these are kinda dangerous, ain't they?" Alyss pulled her hand away and scowled at the irritated blonde. Alyss could tell that she didn't like her just from her voice. "She could probly take out half o' the Black or White Shirts easily with those things, and you just let her have 'em? What were you thinkin', Jack? Didja think that if you gave her what she wanted then she'd give you a little somethin'-somethin' in return, ya sick pervert?" Jack stared blankly at her.

"Look, it's not like that, Sally," he told the Green-Shirt (and annoying) girl who was apparently named Sally. "I simply returned her belongings to her after she politely requested to have them back," he informed her with a calm, smooth voice. Sally pouted.

"I'm sure…" she said, her voice dripping in pure sarcasm. "And y'all weren't hoping to get a little action in return? Give her something to put on her hands, maybe she'd put her hands somewhere on you?" Alyss stepped in between them and lifted her right claw up to Sally's face.

"Listen here, 'Princess'," Alyss spat, seeing 'Princess' as the perfect nickname for a bitch as snotty as this. "I don't know what the hell this guy was thinking, but I sure as hell wasn't gonna go anywhere near him, 'specially not like that!" Alyss face was red with rage, but a slight tint within that red came from embarrassment. Sally stuck her nose in the air, just like the 'Princess' Alyss judged her to be.

"Oh really? Then why 'r y'all so upset about it?" she questioned, bringing her eyes to level with Alyss'. "You sure you didn't have 'nything in mind? Afterall, Jackie here is quite a catch," she said, nudging Jack with her elbow. Jack shifted his eyes away from both of them with a slight blush. Sally turned towards Jack. "Besides," she said, now smirking from the feeling of power she had over both of their emotions, "I can't really blame Jackie for wantin' to get into them tight pants o' yers. I don't think he's ever been 'nywhere near a woman 'sides me before, so a pretty face like yers probly messed with his mind a tad." She put her hand on Jack's shoulder and smiled at Alyss. Alyss' eyes narrowed.

"Well, if he's such a great catch, then why don't you take him? After all, the 'Princess' should get whatever she wants, right?" she hissed, expecting this to silence the snooty blonde. Instead, Sally just smiled at her.

"Oh no, darlin', I ain't interested in Jackie here neither," she said rather smugly, moving towards Alyss. "I don't really care for any o' them boy-types," she smiled, putting her hand on Alyss' shoulder. "No, I'm interested in somethin' a little…different…" Sally ran her finger under Alyss' chin. Alyss' hands clenched into fists. She looked past her at Jack to see if he'd react. He could only stare at them. Sally noticed Alyss' looking to Jack, presumably for help. "Oh, you poor naive gal," Sally shook her head. "That boy ain't gonna step in. See, if there's one thing men love, it's two great lookin' gals like us all close together like this." She put her hand on Alyss' side and moved her face closer to Alyss'. As Alyss was just about ready to slice Sally's face off, she felt something pull her away. Alyss looked up and saw Jack clinging to her jealously.

"I'm afraid I'm going to have to ask you to leave," Jack told Sally, his expression far more serious than Alyss had seen it before. Sally giggled.

"Come now, Jackie, I was just havin' some fun. Why would y'all ask me to leave when I ain't doin' no harm to nobody?" Jack did not waver.

"I wasn't asking." Sally froze in place. Her fear soon faded into anger, however.

"Y'know what, Jackie? Fine! I'll leave y'all alone! Have fun with yer hussy!" Sally stormed out of the room and slammed the door behind her. Alyss simply stared at the door, rather confused about what the hell just happened. Then she noticed that Jack was still holding onto her as though for dear life. She pulled away from him and blushed, but with a bit of an angry look on her face.

"I didn't need you to rescue me…" Jack looked at her apologetically.

"Well…I wasn't trying to save you…I was trying to keep you from slicing off Sally's face." Alyss could tell that he was lying, but she let it slide.

"Whatever. Just don't think I need your protection or anything." Alyss turned away indignantly. Jack nodded.

"Alright." Jack looked at a clock on the wall. Alyss looked over as well. It was 4 o'clock, but she couldn't tell if it was day or night. "It's getting late…" Alyss reasoned that it was night time, but who knows what this guy's definition of 'late' is. She was rather tired though, so she shrugged off the question and sat down on the bed in the corner. Jack turned and looked at her. "Um…would you like to take my bed?" he asked almost sarcastically. Alyss nodded.

"Yes, I think I would. It's quite comfortable." Alyss looked up at Jack. "After all, I am your guest." Jack sighed.

"Alright, then where do you suggest I sleep?" Alyss shrugged.

"Not my problem." Alyss felt a little weird being mean to Jack like this, which she found odd since she had always treated everyone else like this in the past. Jack turned his back on her.

"Alright. I'll ask to bunk with someone else." He walked towards the door.

"Wait," Alyss called to him. He turned around, his green eyes seeming to widen like a sad puppy. That weird feeling from before returned, but she refused to show weakness. She turned her head away from him so as not to see his sad eyes. "Nevermind." Jack was silent. He turned back around and went out the door. Before closing the door, Jack turned back to Alyss one more time.

"Good night." Alyss blushed. She hadn't heard someone tell her good night since she was a little girl.

"Y…yeah, whatever…" Jack left and closed the door. Alyss felt very strange. She didn't know what it was, but she definitely didn't like it. She looked around the room, examining all of the organs lining the walls and the wood-shavings cluttering the floor. She lied down and tried to sleep, but found that the strange feeling inside of her was making it very difficult to sleep. She then remembered that she had kept some of the zydrate she had gotten for the Grave-Robber. She looked through her pockets and found that the three vials she kept were still there. Her pistol was missing, but her zydrate-gun was still in her boot. She let out a sigh of relief and took out one of the vials. The little glass vial went into the gun like a battery. She took a deep breath and pressed the zydrate-gun against her arm. As she pulled the trigger and the gun went off, it sparked bright blue and made a sort of electronic hissing noise. Alyss' vision blurred. The image of the room started to waver. Alyss laid her head down on the pillow. The room turned black and Alyss drifted off into her drug-induced slumber.


	5. Nonsense

Chapter 5: Nonsense

Alyss opened her eyes when she heard a loud knock on the door. She sat up, taking in her surroundings, remembering that she had slept in the bed of the Red Shirted man. She was rather groggy and her memory of the previous night was slightly marred by the zydrate she had used in place of a sleeping pill. She walked over to the door, stumbling along the way. Once she reached the door, she regained her bearings and straightened her hair. She opened the door to find the Black Shirted blonde boy from the day before. He was considerably shorter than her. She figured he was in his teens. He had a black eye, bandages on his face, and his arm was in a sling. The boy's face went pale upon seeing her. He looked as though he was going to throw up. Alyss stared down at him.

"You got somethin' you want, kid?" she said rather angrily after being woken up. The boy shook. He opened his mouth in an attempt to get some words out, but he was unsuccessful. Alyss tapped her foot impatiently. "Come on, kid, don't keep me waiting. If you got somethin' to say, out with it!" The boy practically jumped out of his skin in fear. Finally, he managed to work up what he was trying to say.

"I-I'm looking for Jack, miss!" he said hurriedly, trying not to keep the frightening cycloptic woman waiting any longer. Alyss looked away and let out a faint 'tch' sound. She wasn't happy that she had been woken up over something so stupid.

"How the hell should I know? Do I look like his keeper to you?" The boy trembled.

"N-n-n-no, Ma'am! I j-j-just thought that y-you'd know cus thi-this is his room…" Alyss glared at him. Then she let out a sigh and shrugged.

"Well I have no idea. He said he was gonna bunk with someone else. Now if you'll excuse me, I'd like to get back to sleep." The boy drooped his head down.

"I…I'm sorry…" As the boy turned away, his head collided with someone's abdomen. As he came crashing to the floor on his rump, he looked up and saw that he had just ran into his boss, Jack. The boy whimpered in fear, scared that a punishment was not far behind him. He braced himself for a severe beating. After several seconds of non-pain, he opened his eyes to see Jack walking into the room he was standing outside of. The boy stood up.

"M-m-mister Jack, sir!" Jack turned around to look at the boy.

"What is it, Yolk?" Alyss held back the urge to laugh in the boy's face. The name 'Yolk' was completely ridiculous to her. The blonde boy named Yolk swallowed and continued what he had to say.

"M-m-m-mister Hadner w-wants to see you, s-sir!" Jack nodded.

"Hadner, huh…Alright then," Jack turned to Alyss. "This seems like as good a time as any for you to meet some of the others. Care to join me?" At the moment, Alyss wanted nothing more than to go back to sleep, but she was rather curious about who this 'Hadner' was and what he wanted with Jack. Then she decided that she didn't care and turned back to go to bed. Yolk spoke up once more.

"H-he wants to talk about the l-lady!" Alyss stopped. She wondered what this stranger wanted with her and figured that she may be able to find out more about why Jack had brought her there in the place.

"In that case, how can I say no? Just let me throw something on first." Alyss then remembered that she had slept in her clothes, having not had any pajamas or anything to wear the previous night. Jack turned to Yolk.

"You heard the lady," he said as he rushed the boy out of the room. "It's rude to watch a woman change." Yolk did as he was told and scurried away down the hall. Jack turned back to Alyss. "You have nothing to change into, do you?" Alyss looked away from him.

"Well, that's hardly my fault. Afterall, it's not like anything here is mine." Jack nodded.

"Maybe we should drop by your place to pick up your things then." Alyss would've liked this idea, but unfortunately, she was more or less a drifter. No specific place of residence and very little property for her to call her own. She did not particularly want to admit this however, so instead she said this:

"Maybe later. Right now, we have a meeting to get to." She straightened her hair and walked out of the room. Jack followed.

"Well, if you insist." They made their way down the hall, walking next to each other. Jack looked at Alyss and smiled. Alyss noted this, but kept looking straight ahead.

* * *

Jack knocked on the door to the room that Hadner resided in. Alyss was slightly excited to meet a new face, partially because she liked the name. But no one came to the door. Jack knocked again.

"Matt! Are you in there?" There was still no answer. Jack put his ear to the door and heard laughing. Jack stepped back from the door. "He probably can't hear us over his party…" Alyss stepped in front of Jack.

"Let me try." Her closed fist slammed against the door loudly. "YO! MATT! OPEN UP!" As she knocked, the door opened. However, she was not expecting it to work so quickly, so her hand was still in mid-knock as it opened, her fist colliding with the nose of the one who had opened it. There was a loud yell. The man fell onto his back on the ground, holding his nose, writhing dramatically.

"MY NOOOOOOOOSE! YOU BROKE MY NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOSE!" The yelling man wore the same uniform as Jack, only his shirt was a dark blue and a top hat adorned his head. Alyss figured he was one of the top members of the group. Jack shook his head.

"Matt, she didn't break your nose. Stop being so overdramatic." Matt stood up, rubbing his nose.

"Alright, alright…spoil sport…" The man extended his hand towards Alyss. "Hello there, Madam. Name's Matt Hadner. I'm the Indi Shirt of the group." Alyss shook his hand eagerly, charmed by the British accent that the man spoke with.

"Indi Shirt?" she asked, puzzled about this word.

"Short for Indigo, love," Matt smiled. "I find Indi to have a much nicer ring to it." Alyss nodded in agreement.

"Oh, yes, indeed. My name is Alyss, by the way."

"I know, poppet, Jackie-boy told me." Alyss giggled, hearing Jack referred to by such a funny nickname, but mostly to seem coy to the man whose accent mesmerized her so. Jack cleared his throat. Alyss shot a glare at him.

"Got something to say?" Jack shook his head.

"No, nothing…I'm just wondering what it is that Matt asked us here for." Matt nodded.

"Ah, yes," Matt beckoned them into his room. "Come in, come in." He led them into the room to a table. At the table were two others, a White and a Black shirt. The White was a girl with messy hair, slumped over the table, taking a nap. The Black was a boy, whose hair was even messier than the girl's, but he was wide awake and rather jumpy. He looked up at Jack and Alyss.

"HEY THERE! HOW'S IT GOIN?!" he shook Alyss' hand excitedly. "YOU MUST BE ALYSS! I'VE HEARD SO MUCH ABOUT YOU! IS IT TRUE THAT YOU ONLY HAVE ONE EYE?! DID YOU REALLY MAKE OUT WITH SALLY?! TELL ME ALL ABOUT IT!" He rushed her to the seat next to his. "SO, TELL ME ABOUT YOURSELF! AGE, WEIGHT, HEIGHT! HOW ABOUT THE SIZE OF YOUR BOO-" he rushed out loud and quickly before Matt smacked him on the back of the head.

"Calm down," Matt ordered. He poured some tea for the jumpy Black Shirt. "Take a deep breath, Harry, and have some tea." Harry, as the Black Shirt boy was called, sipped his tea.

"Sorry, Matt." Matt patted Harry on the head.

"It's alright, but try not to get so excited, alright?" Harry made a face that reminded Alyss of a bunny rabbit as he was being petted. Harry turned to Alyss.

"I'm sorry about that. My name is Harold. Harold March." Harry sipped some more of his tea. "Would you care to join our game?" he asked Alyss, waving his hand over the table to present the playing cards that littered the tabletop. Alyss shook her head.

"Sorry, but I'm really just here to talk to Matt," she informed him, looking over at Matt, hoping he'd say something in that fascinating British accent of his. Jack walked over to them.

"Yes, that is what we were called her for," Jack said with great agitation. Alyss looked up at him, sensing his annoyance. She decided it'd be funny to play with him a bit. She got up and put her hands on Matt's shoulders.

"I'm rather curious myself. Why'd you call us here, exactly?" she said into Matt's ear, keeping her eye on Jack to see his reaction. He was clearly more than cross.

"I actually just wanted to meet you, poppet," he said turning his head towards Alyss. She smiled at him.

"How sweet of you," she said rather flirtatiously. Alyss was not a promiscuous person, but rather a sadistic one who greatly enjoyed Jack's reactions. Jack cleared his throat again. She looked at him. "Something wrong?" Jack looked away. "Aww, are you jealous?" Jack's eyes narrowed.

"Why would I be jealous? I'm just not too thrilled to have been called here without a real reason." Alyss smirked, having fun tap-dancing on Jack's nerves. Jack stared at Matt. "If you have nothing to say to us, then perhaps it's time we go." Alyss frowned.

"Aw, but I wanted to talk with Matty a little more." Jack turned away.

"Fine. Stay and talk to him. But I have other things to do." He walked towards the door. He turned back and faced Matt. "Tell Dora I said hi when she wakes up." Matt nodded.

"Will do, Boss." And with that, Jack left. The strange feeling that Alyss had felt the day before came back. She walked towards the door quickly. Matt noticed urgency in her walk.

"Best go get him, love. Very emotional that one." The strange feeling seemed to condense itself inside of her. She made her way to the door. Just before she left, she turned back to Matt and Harry.

"It was nice meeting you guys." Matt and Harry waved at her and nodded. Matt made a shooing motion to tell her to catch up to Jack. Alyss left the room and pursued him. The White Shirt, Dora, woke up.

"Good morning, Miss Maus," Matt said to her. "You missed all the fun." Dora Maus blinked and nodded.

"Ajefimofuga" she mumbled, trying to form actual words, but her drowsiness preventing her from doing so. Matt nodded.

"Indeed. Now, let us get back to our game," he said, shuffling the deck and dealing the cards.


	6. Someone's Gonna Hang

Chapter 6: Someone's Gonna Hang

Alyss ran down the hall, barely keeping Jack in her sight as he turned corners rapidly. After chasing him for a good five minutes, Alyss came across a fork in the hallway, at the center of which was another unfamiliar Collector with his head down. This one was clad in orange, his hair a very dark red, and his coat stained in a multiple colors, accompanied by patches and what appeared to be burn holes. Alyss was curious whether or not the colors were from paint or some other colored substance, but this wasn't the time for that. She had more important things to attend to. Since she didn't know which way Jack had gone, she felt it'd be best to ask for the man's help.

"Hey, you," she said impatiently, "did you see which way Jack went?" The man looked up at her. Now that his head was up, Alyss could see that his eyes were an eerie yellow and that his hair spiked up at an angle on either side, giving him a cat-like appearance. He blinked a few times. He had a large grin on his face that sort of annoyed Alyss. The man tilted his head side to side and hummed. Alyss felt her temper start to rise. "Hey! Did you hear me?!" The man stopped tilting his head, but kept smiling just as he did before. His big yellow eyes stared into Alyss' single eye.

"I heard you, Miss," he hummed in a voice that sounded happy but seemed to be hiding a blatant attempt at annoyance. "What I didn't hear was 'please'." His smile opened to show his teeth and gums. Alyss was put off by his teeth, as they seemed to be sharpened at the ends and lock into place with each other. She ignored this though and continued to inquire as to where Jack was.

"Sigh…please tell me which way Jack went…" Alyss scowled contemptuously. The man tilted his head side to side some more and continued to hum. It was as if he was pretending to be trying to remember where Jack went. Alyss was getting impatient and just decided to go to the right.

"Where do you think you're going?" said the man, who was now standing against the wall on the right side of the right corridor. Alyss looked back at the wall he had been standing at just a moment before.

"How did you get there so fast?"

"Who are you talking to?" said the man, now standing behind Alyss, his chin resting on her left shoulder. Alyss jolted and wheeled around to strike the man. He bent backwards to avoid the blow. He chuckled, his grin seemingly bigger than before. "My my, we certainly have a short temper, don't we?" Before he could say anything else though, he was pinned against the wall with a swift kick to his side. Alyss grabbed his collar and held him up with his back to the wall. The man's laughter got louder. "Hoo, you certainly are a riot" he sang excitedly. Alyss held up her free claw to his face. The man's grin faded slightly. "Okay, okay, I'll tell you." Alyss loosened her grip and let him down to the ground. He cleared his throat. "Allow me to introduce myself. My name is Chester Katz." Alyss honestly didn't give a damn about his name, but she figured it'd be easier to get information out of him if she went along with what he was saying.

"Alyss," she said, impatiently waiting for Katz to tell her what she wanted to know. Katz nodded.

"Alyss…Nice name. Now, as to Jack's location," he began. Alyss listened intently. "He went in the direction that you want to go." No sooner than this left his mouth was he slammed against the wall once again.

"I don't have time for your riddles! Tell me where the hell he went already!" Katz shook his head.

"Not a riddle, my dear," he explained. "It's simple logic. You want to see Jack. The direction he went is where you want to go. See how that works?" His grin now reached from ear to ear, his gums almost entirely exposed. Alyss was outraged. This man was clearly taking pleasure in her anger, but this only pissed Alyss off more. She decided to give up on the man and threw him to the floor.

"Fine! If you won't tell me, I'll just pick for myself!" Alyss turned to the right again, but Katz called out to her.

"Wrong way." Alyss turned around. She scowled at the cat-like man.

"Sorry," she spat, "but I don't believe you." She walked down the right hall without looking back at the now cackling Katz. As his laughs got louder, Alyss couldn't help but peek back, only to see that he was gone. His laughs simply continued to grow louder, without a source to produce them.

* * *

Alyss reached the end of the hallway, Katz's laughter finally having died out, and found that it was a dead end. Alyss kicked the wall in front of her.

"GOD DAMMIT!" Alyss was furious that Katz had told the truth. As she turned around to go back the other way, she noticed that there was what looked like a small handle in the wall. She was rather curious as to what it was, so she placed her hand on it. In fact it was a handle. She pulled it, but that did nothing. She tried pushing it, but that also did nothing. Then she tried sliding it, and the wall seemed to open. Alyss peered inside the door-sized hole in the wall to find what looked like a dojo. She entered the room and found katana, spears, and other weapons adorning the wall. On the other end of the room in the corner was a bed. "What the hell…" she whispered to herself. She then heard a sort of whistling sound, almost as if something was flying through the air. Just in time, Alyss took a step backwards, just narrowly avoiding a spear flying in from her right. She turned swiftly to find a man with short, spiky black hair and a grey shirt. His eyes were as pitch-black as his hair. He was standing in such a way that suggested he had indeed been the one who had thrown the spear at her. The man let out a quick 'tch', as if he was upset that he'd so barely missed his target. "What the fuck do you think you're doing!?" she screamed. "You could've taken my head off with that!" He simply stared.

"What are _you_ doing here?" The way he said this, Alyss detected that the man had a problem with her specifically, not simply because she was in what she assumed was his room. Upon closer inspection, she realized that this man was with Jack and Sally when they kidnapped her. She glared at him, wondering what kind of problem he had with her.

"I'm looking for Jack," she declared. The Grey-Shirt did not move for a minute. He then walked towards Alyss and stared into her eye.

"You lost him, huh…" he scoffed. He seemed to disapprove of Alyss in every way. "Tell me, what did you do to him?" he asked, almost sarcastically. Alyss was indignant.

"I didn't do nothin'," she hissed. The man looked rather cross.

"Uh huh…I bet you were makin' googly eyes at another man, weren't ya?" The man turned his head and once again let out a 'tch'. He started whispering to himself. "He deserves better than you…" Alyss was a little put off by this, but she didn't bother paying any notice to it.

"Listen here, bub," she demanded, "I wasn't makin' no googly eyes or anything else. I was just messing with Jack a little, that's all." The man shook his head.

"Unbelievable…Jack goes through all the trouble to take you into his home and make you a part of his life, and you repay him by going after other men…Tisk tisk…" The man wagged his finger at her. Alyss attempted to grab the wagging finger, with every intention on ripping it off of the man's hand, but he swiped his hand away before she could. He leaned in close to her. "Now you listen to me, missy," he growled, "either you treat Jack right or you give him to me. If you can't learn to hold onto him, I'm gonna take him for myself, got it?" Alyss was rather confused now.

"Take him for yourself? What, are you carryin' a torch for him or somethin'?" The man's face turned slightly red. Alyss brought her palm up to her forehead. "Wow…I'm here two days and I already meet a lesbo and a gay-guy…And what the hell's up with all the weaponry? Compensatin' for somethin', bud?" Before she could go any farther though, she felt something cold on her neck. It was the side of a blade. The man had drawn a sword that was hanging on the wall while she wasn't paying attention. Alyss did not waver though. She refused to show fear in front of someone so ridiculous. She put her hand on the dull side of the blade and brushed it away. "Anyway, I was just wondering if you'd seen Jack or not." The man returned the blade to its sheath on the wall and shook his head. "Hm…shame…I'll just be on my way then…" As she turned around to leave, the man began to speak again.

"Hey, lady," he called. Alyss glared at him. "Next time, try knocking with your hand, not your foot. It's less annoying." Alyss would have chuckled, but instead she just turned her head back and kept going. After she was gone, the man turned towards his bed. "She's gone. You can come out now." Out from under the bed crawled Jack. He dusted off his clothes with his hands.

"Sorry about that, Vorp. She can be a little tough to deal with." 'Vorp' shook his head.

"Quite alright. And I've told you before, you don't need to be so formal. Just call me Lance." Jack chuckled.

"Whatever you say, buddy. Anyway, I should be getting back to my own room. I have a project that I want to finish." Lance frowned.

"Alright…I was kind of hoping you'd stay a little longer…"

"I'm sorry. But I really should finish my project. And I'd like to be there when Alyss goes back there." Jack walked towards the door, but stopped. "Hey…that whole 'carrying a torch thing'…That was a joke, right?" Lance blushed slightly.

"O-of course it was! Just tryin' to mess with her is all." He laughed nervously. Jack nodded.

"Nice job. Now, I'll see you later." Jack waved at Lance and left. Lance waved back after he was gone.

"See you…"


	7. State Your Names

Chapter 7: State Your Names

Alyss wandered the halls for what felt like hours. She forgot which way she had come from. The halls were like a labyrinth, and she wasn't able to pay much attention while she was chasing Jack. Now she was lost and alone. While she looked around for some kind of sign or something that would direct her back to where she started, she started to wonder if Jack was okay. He had seemed rather upset, and she felt that odd feeling from before again.

"Why the hell do I feel so weird…I don't even know the guy that well." She took a deep breath and tried to gather her thoughts. "All I did was mess with him a little…Not like that's a crime. It's his own fault for being such a baby." As she said this, the strange feeling seemed to get stronger. She was about ready to hit something when suddenly a powerful smell filled the hall. Alyss recognized this smell as tobacco. She turned to find smoke leaking out from a crack under a door down the hall. She walked towards it, figuring that whoever was there could give her some directions to get the hell out of there. As she was about to knock, the door creaked open eerily. A large cloud of smoke rushed out through the doorway, the smell overwhelming Alyss. She coughed, trying to get the foul smoke out of her lungs. Then she heard a voice.

"Come iiiiin, my deeeeear," a man's voice called. The voice was both inviting and repulsing at the same time. Alyss didn't really want to see who this person was, as he sounded like another freak, and she wasn't interested in a repeat of what happened with Katz. However, she wanted to get out of this infuriating maze, so she figured it'd be best to go in. She looked around as she entered the room, but she didn't see anyone there. It was similar to Jack and the other man's room, however, in that there was a bed in the corner. Aside from that, the room was completely empty except for a strange bar standing vertically in the center of the room. Alyss examined the bar, and noticed that as she looked up, she could not see the top. All she saw was a gray circle which seemed to block out ceiling light. She figured it was some kind of cover for the light so it wouldn't get too bright or something. However, the circle seemed to start moving down towards her. She realized that it was attached to the bar, and the bar itself was sinking into the floor. Alyss took a step back to avoid the strange metallic circle hitting her on the head. As the circle descended, the back of a man came into her view. The man was sitting down, hunched over, with a hookah placed next to him. Alyss reasoned that he was smoking the hookah, as she could hear him inhaling and exhaling as more smoke arose from him. He was wearing a lab coat just like the others. The circular platform he sat on began to turn, allowing him to face Alyss without actually moving. As she got a better look at him, she noticed that he had almost no blood on his coat. At most, there were a couple of small, almost negligible specks. What made this stranger was that his shirt was yellow, signifying that he was the third top Collector, after Jack and Katz. His coat seemed different from the other ones also in that the sleeves were much wider and drooped off of his arms. The man's nose was pointed and his chin protruded out from his face. He wore his oddly blue-colored hair in a rather silly looking pompadour. Alyss had trouble restraining herself from laughing about how ridiculous he looked. His arms and legs were stubby and his body was small. Even though he was sitting down, Alyss could tell that he was very short. The man took a deep breath of his hookah and blew out some more smoke. "Who…are…you?" he annunciated, breathing smoke with each word. Alyss waved away the smoke to keep any more from getting into her lungs.

"My name is Alyss," she informed him, coughing a bit, as she had accidentally inhaled some more smoke. The man's face adopted a scornful look.

"Alysssssss," he hissed, annunciating on the 's' sound. "What a boooooring name." Alyss' eye twitched at this.

"Yeah, well what's your name, short-stuff?" she raised her eyebrow at him. The man shot up and glared at her, his face turning so dark a crimson that his hair seemed to change color as well.

"SHORT?! I'LL HAVE YOU KNOW THAT I AM OF A VERY GOOD HEIGHT INDEED!" he screamed, wagging his finger in Alyss' face. Alyss had already been wagged at that day, so this time she wasn't going to pass up the opportunity. She took a firm grasp on his index finger and began twisting it. He yelped in pain and fell back into his sitting position on his platform. He pulled his hand away from Alyss and tried blowing on his injured finger in an attempt to sooth it, but this did very little as all he could blow was more smoke. Alyss crossed her arms and tapped her foot.

"Well?" She raised her eyebrow again, waiting for a reply as to the short man's name. The man cleared his throat.

"Iiiii," he began with more annunciation (which rather pissed off Alyss, as that particular annunciation made him sound pompous) "am called Absolem C. Pillar." Once again, Alyss wanted to break out laughing, as this sounded completely preposterous. Instead, she said this:

"What the hell kinda name is that?" she spat, insulted that he would make fun of her name when his was so stupid. He waved his hand dismissively.

"Iiiii think it is a very fiiiiine name indeed." He took a deep breath on his hookah. "Nooooow…about whyyyyy…you are heeeeere." Alyss opened her mouth to speak, but Absolem continued speaking. "Youuuuu…want to know how to get out of heeeeere…Correc-t?" Alyss was a little surprised that he knew without her telling him, but she supposed it was obvious. She tried to confirm this, but Absolem was still speaking. "Youuuuu….are also wonderiiiiing…why you feel so ooooodd late-a-ly." He was starting to freak Alyss out. Before she jumped to any conclusions though, she remembered that she had asked herself that out loud before. He kept speaking. "Nooooow…you are _won_dering…whyyyyy I know these things without you telling meeeee…" Alyss was unphased by this, as he was probably just made a lucky guess. She said nothing this time, sure that he would just start talking again. When he was silent for about a minute, she decided he was done and tried to speak, only to be interrupted again. "Iiiii…can answer aaaaall of your quest-i-ons." He blew out a very large cloud of smoke into the air above Alyss and stared into it. He was silent for another minute. "Youuuuu…are destined for trrrrragedy…" Alyss rolled her eye.

"So, what? I'm gonna die? Shocking news…" she said sarcastically. Absolem shook his head.

"Youuuuu…ask to know too mu_ch_. Sim-p-ly wait…and seeeeeee." Alyss' started tapping her foot again.

"Yeah, yeah…You gonna tell me how to get outta here or what?" Absolem stared at her for a moment, then blew out more of his smoke over Alyss head. Once the smoke cleared, a piece of paper fell out and landed on top of her head. It was a map.

"Follooooow…the line you want to get tooooo…" Alyss looked at the map and found that there were no lines on the map.

"Hey, ya stupid midget, there aren't any lines here!" He shook his head once again and pointed at the map.

"_Ta_ke…a cloooooser…a-look…" Alyss looked back at the map begrudgingly. A red line appeared on the map, leading from a large yellow dot to a large red dot. "Follooooow…the line you want to get tooooo…" he repeated. Alyss looked at him, bewildered at how this map worked.

"And this'll take me to Jack?" Absolem nodded.

"In_deed_…but be waaaaarned…heeeee…will be the _cau_se…of your trrrrragedy." Alyss shrugged.

"Yeah, that's great, but I don't have time for your silly superstitions and crack-pot predictions." She walked towards the door and was almost out when Absolem called her back once more.

"Wait! I have something important to say!" Alyss stopped and turned back towards him. He took a deep breath on his hookah and was silent for about half a minute. As Alyss concluded he wasn't going to say anything and tried to leave, he finally spoke. "K_eep_…your temp_er_." Alyss scoffed.

"Wow…that's such profound advice. Thank you so much" she smiled with almost hurtful sarcasm. Absolem waved to her.

"Youuuuu….may leave n_ow_…" Alyss took this as her opportunity to get the hell out of there and made her way down what the map said was the path the Jack. After she left and the door closed, Absolem continued to smoke his hookah and his platform began to rise back up to its original position. "That p_oor_ girlllll…"


	8. Smell the Dead

Chapter 8: Smell the Dead

Alyss stared at the map. It said she was at Jack's room, though it was hard to tell, as all the doors look exactly the same. She didn't even know if Jack was there or not. Her logic was that he would have to go there eventually, so she would wait for him there. Then she started to fantasize what that reunion would be like.

"What if he's mad…" she whispered to herself. She shook her head. "What the hell do I care if he's mad? It's his own damn fault for being such a baby." She started to feel weird again, but she did her best to ignore it. She took a deep breath and put her hand on the doorknob. She turned it slowly, a bit scared that Jack might be there and waiting to yell at her. She opened the door, and sure enough, there was Jack. He was asleep, hunched over on the desk, almost buried in wood-shavings. He probably didn't fall asleep while carving whatever it was, Alyss thought, as he didn't have a knife in his hand or anything for him to be carving. What was in his hand, however, was the key to the drawer. Alyss was tempted to take the key, but she was a little worried that she'd wake Jack up in the process. She made up her mind to try, however. She approached him slowly, removing one of her claw gloves so that she'd be able to take the key without accidentally slicing into Jack's hand. As she put her fingers on it, she remembered what happened last time she tried to break into the desk. She sighed and let go of the key. She certainly didn't want a repeat of what happened before or to experience that strange feeling again. Instead, she went over to the bed and lied down. "I'll talk to him when he wakes up…" she said to herself, as all of the day's events and running around finally caught up with her. Within moments, she was unconscious.

* * *

Alyss opened her eyes and blinked. She sat up and found that the bed's blanket had been pulled over her.

"That's weird…I don't remember getting under the covers…" she said to herself, puzzled. She looked around the room, and to her surprise, Jack was, once again, gone. Alyss clenched her fists and ground her teeth. "Dammit…" she cursed under her breath. Just then, she noticed that there was a note on the desk. She got off of the bed and read it. The note didn't say much. The only words on it were "Dining Hall" in extremely poor handwriting. It took a minute for Alyss to see what each letter was. "Geez…his handwriting is crap…" She crumpled the letter and walked out of the room to look for the dining hall. Then Alyss realized that she didn't have a clue where that was. After wondering where she should go for a minute, she realized that she still had the map. Sure enough, when she looked at it, the red line faded and a blue one appeared, leading to another room. Alyss found this slightly odd. She was looking for Jack, after all, so why would the line turn blue? She decided to ignore this for the time being and followed the new path.

* * *

As she neared the end of the path, she saw a large sign saying "Dining Hall" above the door. Clearly this was the place, she thought to herself. She walked in, but there was no one there. It was a large room with several tables, but no people at the moment. Alyss was rather perturbed at this. She took another look at the map, but it did not change. She felt like tearing up the map, she was so mad. Before she could, however, she smelled an overwhelming aroma of pancakes and bacon. Someone was cooking breakfast. Before she could put any more thought into it, though, she heard a loud crash and a scream. She turned to the left, where the sound came from and saw another door labeled "Kitchen". She rushed in and found a White Shirt sitting on the floor, a pot on his head and a bucket on his foot, nursing his arm. Alyss could only stare, trying to figure out what the hell just happened to this guy. The White Shirt pulled the pot off of his head, and Alyss was rather shocked to see that it was an Asian with bright orange hair. His hair was sleeked back in the front, but the back was kind of spiky and wing-like. Alyss was having difficulty not laughing, as this was simply the most ridiculous thing she'd ever seen in her life. And she had seen some ridiculous things. The White Shirt turned and noticed her standing there and shot up. The bucket was still on his foot, so he lost his balance and fell over again. This was the straw that broke the camel's back, as Alyss roared with laughter. The ridiculous White Shirt was very flustered at this and struggled to get the bucket off his foot. He waved his leg up and down madly. Just as the bucket finally flew off behind him, a Blue Shirted Collector walked in.

"What's all the commoti-" he began as the bucket collided with his forehead. Surprisingly enough, the force of the bucket did not knock him over. He simply stood there, stunned in silence, with a large red mark on his forehead. After a couple of seconds, some blood trickled down his face. The Blue Shirt screamed and flailed about. Alyss, by this point, was on her back and rolling around on the floor, clutching her now busting gut. After a few minutes, both of the other two stopped flailing about and stared at Alyss. The Blue Shirt (who had a round face that reminded Alyss of a baby cow and flat hair) rubbed his head where he had been hit and started to cry. "Why is she laughing at us so much?" he asked through his sobs. The White Shirt shook his head.

"Don't know. It wasn't really that funny. Maybe she's a loser and she's trying to make herself feel better by picking on others." Alyss stopped for a moment and stared at the White Shirt. Then she started laughing again.

"That's the stupidest thing I've ever heard!" she howled. The White Shirt seemed unphased and just continued to stare at her. He shrugged.

"Look, I'm sure there's a reason you're here, and I doubt it's to laugh at us like an idiot. So, either state your business or get ou-HJCKRRH!" he tried to say as he was interrupted by what one could only assume was his way of sneezing. This resulted in Alyss' laughing increasing to a near-deafening pitch. She soon lost her breath and wasn't able to laugh anymore. She cleared her throat and stood up, dusting herself off. The White Shirt glared at her. "Are you quite finished?" Alyss let out a couple more chuckles and nodded. "Alright then. Now, please, state your business" he demanded. Alyss took a moment to regain her composure.

"I'm looking for Jack," she told them, barely managing to keep from laughing again. They looked at each other and grinned. They looked back at Alyss, still grinning rather fiendishly.

"Well…If you want to know where the boss is…" began the Blue Shirt.

"You're gonna have to make up for laughing at us," concluded the White Shirt. They opened their mouths to make their demands, but within moments found sharp claws just centimeters from their uvulas. Alyss smiled at them.

"So, where did you say Jack was?" she said with cheerful impatience. Both of the Shirts trembled and pointed to a door to their left. "Thank you" she said with a smirk as she removed her claws from their mouths. Both of them collapsed, drenched in horrified sweat. The Blue Shirt started to cry again.

"I can't believe I let you talk me into that, Griff," he sobbed. Griff turned his head towards him and was silent for a minute.

"Shut up, Jimmy."


	9. Unscathed Organs

Chapter 9: Unscathed Organs

Alyss opened the door to find Jack flipping a pancake, just barely managing to catch it in the pan when he noticed Alyss standing there.

"Good morning, Sleepy-head," he chimed with a smile. He directed Alyss' attention to a table. It was set up with bacon, toast, eggs, juice, and other breakfast items. Alyss stood still, bewildered at the situation. "…Oh. Right." Jack went over to the table and pulled the chair out and motioned for Alyss to sit. She didn't move. She could only stare at Jack. Jack was puzzled. "What's wrong?" Alyss shook her head.

"What the hell is your deal? First you kiss me, then you get all serious and try acting scary, then you get jealous when I talk to a complete stranger, then you run away, now you're making me breakfast? How bipolar are you?" Jack blinked.

"Think of it as my way of saying 'I'm sorry'," he told her. "I overreacted, and I'm sure I worried y-"

"Worried me?" she interjected. "Please. Like I'd be worried about an idiot like you. I just don't know my way around this place and without you I got lost." She looked away indignantly. Jack didn't believe a word of this, but he decided to let it go.

"Alright, if you say so. Well, you can be angry at me if you want, but you should still eat. You must be hungry." Alyss shot a glare at Jack.

"As a matter of fact I'm no-" she tried to say, as her stomach growled loudly. "…I am." She looked away again, but this time out of slight embarrassment. She sat down and Jack helped scoot the chair in for her. She whipped around to look at him. "Do you mind? I don't need your help with every little thing," she growled at him. Jack backed off and went back to cooking his pancakes and setting food on the table. Alyss ate slowly, contemplating everything that had happened the last couple of days. After a few minutes of silence between the two of them, Alyss looked up at Jack. "Hey, why did you bring me here in the first place?" Jack blinked at her again.

"Um…let's see…" he pondered. "Because…I wanted to, I guess." Alyss stared blankly at him.

"Huh?" She raised her eyebrow.

"Yeah. You seem like a really interesting person, so I decided to bring you into the group." Alyss was skeptical of this, but she decided to leave it be for the moment.

"Alright…and how did you wind up with this group, might I ask?" Jack's disposition shifted. He was smiling before, but now he was silent and solemn. He let out a deep sigh.

"It's…not the cheeriest story, I'll tell you that…" He looked off into space. Alyss was intrigued.

"Really now? Care to share with the class?" Jack stared at her out of the side of one eye. He clearly did not care to share.

"Sigh…well, I suppose you should know a little bit about me…But trust me, this isn't going to be a joy-ride…" He trailed off as Alyss listened intently.

* * *

2044. A white-coated boy of about 17 jumped from roof to roof. As he jumped, he looked around, trying to find some sign of a Repo Man at work. Just when everything seemed completely peaceful and that there were no Repos active at the moment, the boy heard a scream coming from a nearby apartment. He hurried to where he heard the scream and climbed down a fire-escape, following the consecutive yet smaller screams that succeeded the first. He peered into a window and saw a man in a black outfit tearing something out of a woman's abdomen. The boy wasn't quite sure what it was, but the man placed it into a clear plastic bag which he then placed into a larger bag that seemed to emit a blue light and fog. The boy's reaction was a strange mix of joy from finding his target and disgust at what he was witnessing. On impulse, he burst in through the window with a loud crash. The Repo Man turned to see who was there, but was surprised to see a fist merely a centimeter from his face. Before he had time to react, he was flat on the floor, the room spinning all around him. As he tried to get up, he heard a loud snapping sound. This sound, he wouldn't find out later, was his ribs. This snapping was due to the foot now lodging and removing itself from his chest repeatedly. The Repo coughed, the blood that would normally be flowing through his lungs' capillaries now spilling to the ground. The boy took off the Repo's mask, both to get a look at the man's face and to make it easier to access his target. Within the following few seconds, the Repo saw moonlight glinting off of his knife, which was now coming closer to him, the blood of his victim shimmering almost beautifully. After another few seconds, his blood joined his victim's on the murderous instrument, spilling forth from a large hole in his trachea. The boy breathed heavily and stared at the blood, his green eyes staring back at him from the red puddles in elated horror. He turned to the bag with the organ in it and picked it up, pocketing the blade that had just taken two lives and lord knows how many others. As he was about to leave, the door opened and light filled the room. Two children peered in. Both were boys of no more than four. One started crying. The other walked up to the boy in the white coat.

"W…what happened to Mama and Papa?" the big-eyed child asked. The boy looked at the corpses and realized what had just happened. Both children were crying now. They screamed for their parents. The boy clutched his head. He felt as if his skull was tearing itself apart. His vision went white and all went silent.

The boy awoke to find himself back in his own apartment. He was breathing heavily.

"Just a dream…" he assured himself, turning on the television to see what was new in the world. This was a mistake on his part. The first thing he saw was four mutilated bodies. A family had been murdered the night before; a married couple and two young boys of no more than four. The mother's intestinal tract was falling out of her. According to the reporter, her uterus was missing. The boy didn't know how to react. He looked around his room, bullets rolling down his body from his sweat glands. As he looked over the side of his bed, he noticed something black coming out from under it. He pulled it out. It was a Repo Man's coat wrapped around something. He unwrapped it to find the bag that the organ had been placed in. Hesitantly, he opened the bag. He peered in. His hand shot up to his mouth to restrain from expelling his stomach, intestines, and possibly even his esophagus. Inside the bag was the uterus that had been reported missing. It was not alone however. What appeared to be a tiny foot was sticking out of it. The boy sealed up the bag and threw it back under his bed. He hid under his covers and tried to pretend that none of it was real, but he knew better…

* * *

"After that, I swore I'd never kill anyone again. Since then, I never have. I've only stolen the organs that the Repo's have taken." Alyss was silent. "A little less than a year later, I met a man named Chester Katz. He proposed that we start an organization. That was when the Collector's were born." Alyss nodded slowly.

"Uh huh…but why were you stealing organs in the first place?" Jack shook his head.

"Sorry, but that's a story for another time." The two ate the rest of their breakfast in silence.


	10. Harvesting the Kidneys

Chapter 10: Harvesting the Kidneys

Alyss looked around the now full cafeteria, brimming with bloodied lab coats. She'd never seen so much blood in one place, which surprised her, considering where she used to work. A thought then crossed her head.

"Hey, Jack? When do you usually go out on missions?" Jack looked at her, pondering the question.

"Hm…I guess we go out whenever we feel like it. There's no set time, but sometimes we get a tip of a repossession in progress." Alyss nodded, rather bored by his answer. She hoped there was some kind of over the top computer system thing that randomly assigned them.

"Uh huh…so in the end, those shirts of yours come down to who's luckiest in finding targets," she mumbled sarcastically.

"Pretty much," Jack nodded rather cheerily. Alyss brought her palm up to her forehead.

"Alright then…well, how about tonight we go out on one of your little strolls. Maybe make a little game of it. Whoever gets the part first wins." She smirked at him, waiting to see how he'd react to this. She kind of figured he'd say it was too dangerous and try to get her to stay behind.

"Sure, why not?" he shrugged. Alyss' eye twitched, disappointed by his reaction. Then another idea popped up.

"Okay, cool. And maybe we can bring Hadner along with us?" she said with a wink.

"…On second thought, there probably aren't any repo's out tonight…" his voice sank with dejection. Alyss was satisfied.

"I'm just kidding you," she chuckled, flicking Jack's nose. Jack grumbled and Alyss got out of her seat. As she passed Jack on her way out, she patted him on the shoulder. "Don't worry, I'm sure I'll have a great time," once again giving him a quick wink. Jack blushed. Alyss laughed in his face and joked that he liked her, to which he calmly replied he did not. "Whatever you say," she called, waving to him as she walked off.

Jack and Alyss jumped from one roof to the next. As they ran across the rooftop, they gradually increased speed, like they were having a race. After a few transitions to different roofs, Alyss tripped on the way to the next. Jack stopped and went back to check if she was okay. She grabbed his extended hand and pulled him to the ground, then jumped up and ran ahead.

"Sucker!" she called back at him. By the time Jack realized what happened, she was a full roof and a half ahead. She laughed to herself. "Man, I can't believe he fell for that. What a mor-" she was about to say as he ran out ahead of her. "H-Hey! Get back here, dammit!" She chased him, but tripped when she tried to jump to the next roof. This time wasn't a trick, however. She was falling down to the alleyway below. As she fell, she wondered if this was where she would die. She cursed herself for letting it end so quickly and stupidly. As she prepared to hit the pavement, she found that she was floating. She looked up to find Jack holding her hand, hanging off of a fire escape. _How did he get here so fast_, she thought to herself.

"You need to be more careful," he said to her with an exhausted chuckle.

"It's not like I asked you to save me…"

"Alright then," Jack replied, loosening his grip. As he did, Alyss' free hand shot up and clung to his arm. Jack smiled slightly. The next thing Alyss knew, Jack had pulled her up onto the fire escape and let her down safely. "Maybe we shouldn't race next time." Alyss looked away, a little flustered that she'd grabbed his arm like that.

"Yeah, sure, whatever…"

They continued to jump from roof to roof, a bit slower this time though.

"When do we find a Repo?" Alyss called to Jack. He shrugged.

"I'm sure we'll find one sooner or later." Alyss was not pleased.

"Yeah, well I'd like to find one sooner, cus I'm getting bo-"

"AAAAAAAAAH!" Jack and Alyss stopped abrubtly. They looked down into the next alleyway and saw a Repo reaching his hand into a woman's now openly bleeding abdomen. Before Alyss could say anything to Jack about finally seeing some action, Jack was already sucker punching the Repo in the back of his head. The Repo crashed to the ground as Alyss managed to get down the fire escape. The Repo stood up. His mask was unlike most other Repos'. His was reminiscent to some kind of demon. The eyes were large and round with a white light hiding his real eyes and glowing in the darkness. The mask's mouth was round with four huge teeth bared, two on top and two on bottom. From the sides of the mouth and behind the eyes came what appeared to be tendrils. The outfit was black, as with all Repos', but it looked oddly different. The strangest part was that it seemed to have a cape. Upon closer inspection, Alyss saw that it was two wings folded down. On the end of his sleeves seemed to be claws, presumably gloves.

If someone described this Repo to Alyss, she would've laughed at them and told them they were crazy, but seeing it in real life, Alyss felt something she hadn't felt in a long time; fear. There was something about it that was scary to her. It completely lacked human features. It was quite simply a monster.

Jack raised his hands out in front of him, taking up a stance that implied he was prepared to fight this Repo-Monster.

"Didn't think I'd see you again so soon…" Alyss was confused. Had Jack met this thing before? The creature retorted with a strange bubbling sound and leaped at Jack, attempting to swipe at him with its claw. Jack managed to connect his fist to the thing's face, but the creature had succeeded in its attack as well. Blood ran down from Jack's forehead to his neck. As the blood flow passed his eye, it looked almost like he had been cut there instead. He rushed the creature, but it jumped up and kicked off of his shoulders, leaping to the walls and escaping to the rooftops. Alyss tried to go after it, but then she noticed Jack stumble. She caught him and laid him down against the alley wall.

"Jack? You okay? Come on, he's getting away," she tugged at his arm, trying to pursue the horrific thing. Jack shook his head.

"The woman…" he said weakly. "Check her organs…" Alyss did as she was told. The woman was dead, without a doubt. Her intestines were scattered all over the alleyway. Alyss sifted through the cadaver until she found the organ with a barcode. She pulled out a pair of lungs and brought them over to Jack.

"I think I found 'em," she presented the lungs to him. Jack's face went pale.

"Put them back…"

"What'd you say?"

"Put them back," he demanded, forcing himself to stand up.

"Are you kidding me?" she screamed, throwing the lungs aside in anger. They made a squishing sound as they collided with the walls and fell to the cement. "Isn't stealing organs what you do? Why would you just leave them for another Repo to come and get? What the hell is wrong with y-" she stopped her rant. Jack's green eyes were upon her, somehow holding her in place.

"I said put them back. Do not make me repeat myself." He turned and walked off, wiping the blood from his face on his sleeve. He muttered something to himself. Alyss stood there in confusion and repeated what she heard:

"'I have enough of GeneCo's lungs already'?"


	11. Bear Your Cross

Chapter 11: Bear Your Cross

Jack stumbled as he walked into his room, still holding his hand up to the cut on his face. Alyss followed him, questioning him as she had been since they encountered the monstrous Repo.

"Okay, I want some answers, Jack," she said to him. "Why didn't we take those lungs?" Jack turned and looked at her as he sat down on his bed.

"I told you already. I have enough of GeneCo's lungs." Alyss clenched her fist.

"What the hell does that mean?" She looked around the room. "How can you have enough? There aren't any in here at all!" Jack shook his head.

"You're not looking hard enough." He laid down on his bed and put his hand on his heart. Alyss was silent.

"…Oh." She felt awkward now. "So…you…"

"Yeah."

"When?"

"When I was a kid. I had asthma. At least, we thought it was asthma. At one point, they almost stopped working all together."

"Then?"

"My mom took me to GeneCo. She said they'd help me get better. I survived, obviously, but as far as I'm concerned, everything just got worse." Jack stopped and rolled over to face the wall.

"What happened then?" Alyss was curious now. Jack didn't say anything for a minute.

2032. A little boy held on to his mother's sleeve and coughed. The mother leaned down and wiped his mouth with a handkerchief. She patted him on the head.

"There there, Jackie," she said softly, "everything's going to be okay soon." They approached to GeneCo building. The little boy trembled.

"I'm scared, Mama…" His mother looked at him and smiled.

"It's alright, honey. They're going to help you get better. I promise. Everything's going to be okay." She took his hand and brought him into the building. A stocky man in a suit came to greet them. Behind him were two children. One was 13. His hair was sleeked back and he looked mean. The other was about 8 and kept touching his face. The older boy glared at Jack and snarled at him. Jack hid behind his mother's leg.

"It's good to see you again," the man said in a cheery yet booming voice. "This must be young Jackie. I assume you're here for his operation?"

"Why, yes we are, Mr. Largo. How nice of you to meet us in person. And who are these charming young men?" she asked, addressing the two boys.

"These are my sons, Luigi and Pavi. I decided to bring them into work today. They may very well own this place one day, so I thought it best to let them see for themselves what goes on here. They may have some competition though. My wife gave birth to our third recently. Our little Carmela may give these two a run for their money."

"Like that'll happen," Luigi scoffed. "I already know I'm gonna be the next head of GeneCo, so why even bother with all this "competition" crap?"

"Watch your language," Rotti said to the angry youth. "Now, let's get Jackie to his appointment, shall we?" Rotti led them to an operating room. He instructed Jack to lie down on the operating chair. A number of Genterns came in. Jack gripped his mother's hand.

"Mama…I'm scared…"

"Quit bein' such a baby, ya wimp!" cried Luigi. Rotti delivered a swift smack to the back of his head. Jack started to cry. His mother kissed his forehead.

"Everything's going to be alright, Jackie. I promise." His mother's reassuring face was the last thing he saw before he received his dosage of zydrate.

A few months passed. Jack's new lungs worked well. He was able to run and play with the other children. Unfortunately, his mother lost her job. Soon enough they were living off of welfare. It wasn't long until their debts couldn't be paid anymore.

Jack came home from school one day to find the lights out in his and his mother's apartment.

"Mama?" he called. "Mama, are you there?" As he wandered into the apartment and called out to his mother, a hand snatched his wrist and covered his mouth. He tried to scream as he was dragged into the closet.

"Shhhh. Honey, it's me," Jack's mother told him in a hushed voice. "Sweetie, listen to me. You have to get out of here right now." She removed a small board from the wall to reveal an opening. Where it led, Jack didn't know, but his mother had him go into it. She began to put the board back over the opening.

"Mama? Aren't you coming with me?" She shook her head.

"The passage is only big enough for you." Jack refused to leave without her, but she only kissed his forehead. "Everything's going to be fine. I promise." As she covered the opening, Jack heard the front door break down. She didn't cover the opening all the way, as there was still a small opening for Jack to see out of. Jack's mother tried to close the closet door, but a claw appeared on the door first and ripped it out of her hands. A monstrous creature came into view. Jack only saw the claw and its eyes, but he knew it was a terrifying thing. He tried to crawl away through the passageway, but he was too afraid. The creature took hold of Jack's mother. She screamed. Jack wanted to cry, but knew if he did, he'd be found. The creature made a terrifying bubbling sound. Jack's mother tried to tell it to leave, but to no avail. By the time she finished her sentence, there was a claw protruding through her throat. She fell to the ground, bleeding. Gasping. Crying.

Dead.

Jack could hear the creature ransacking the apartment. It was looking for him. If he stayed, it would find him. Jack built up the strength to run away. He tried not to look back at his mother.

He failed.

He got away somehow. He ran out into the street, crying for help. He looked back and saw the creature's glowing eyes peering out the window. Jack ran faster. The monster burst through the window and crawled out. It let out a horrifying sound that would haunt Jack for years. Before the creature could chase him, though, several people came running out into the street to see what was wrong. Jack told the people that there was a monster chasing him. He pointed to the building, but the demon had disappeared.

Someone asked where his parents were.

"T…The monster killed my Mama! Please, save me!" A blonde woman came forward and embraced the trembling child.

"Don't worry, child. I'll protect you from the monster. Sarah! Margarete! Get this boy a blanket! It's freezing out here!"

Two little blonde girls came out with blankets and wrapped them around little Jack. They brought him inside their apartment and huddled close to him to keep him warm. Jack turned his head to look at one of them.

"Hi!" she said excitedly. "I'm Sarah," she proclaimed in a surprisingly thick Southern accent. "I'm 9 years old. You can call me Sally." She smiled at him. Jack blushed.

"You're pretty…" he said softly. The girl kissed his head.

"Thank ya, sugar," she cooed. "So, ya got a name?"

"J…Jack…"

"Nice ta meetcha, Jackie." She held him close and he rested his head on her shoulder. He fell asleep quickly.

"I didn't see that Repo for a long time after that. I was never alone from that point on, so he never came after me. After enough time passed, he either forgot about me or just couldn't find me. I've run into him a couple times between now and then. Who would've thought he'd still be around after this long though…" Alyss sat on the edge of Jack's bed. He looked up at her. "Y'know…you look a lot like her."

"Who?" Jack was silent.

"No one…forget I said anything." Alyss pouted, but she wasn't in the mood to mess with him right now. She somehow brought herself to put her hand on his arm.

"Good night, Jack."


	12. Sometimes I Wonder

Chapter 12: Sometimes I Wonder

Alyss took a book off of the shelf and flipped through the pages, putting it back after determining it wasn't very interesting. An elderly man wearing a tri-cornered hat popped out from behind the bookcase.

"Are you f-finding everything alright, m-my dear?" the elder gentleman stuttered.

"Not really, Dodgson…" Alyss replied somewhat disappointed.

Dodgson was a round old man with a rather bulbous nose, a short rat-tail on the back of his white hair, and a Purple Shirt. Surprisingly to Alyss, his coat seemed to be one of the bloodier ones, despite his rank and his seemingly gentle nature. Alyss had come to befriend Dodgson in the few months she had spent with the Collectors, spending a lot of her time in his library, looking through random books. Of the Collectors she'd met, Dodgson was probably Alyss' favorite.

She reached up for another book that looked interesting, as the spine seemed to be somewhat bent and it had the words "D. Dodgson" along it.

"Dodgson? That's your name, isn't it, DoDo?" she said as she examined the cover, referring to him with a nickname she'd given him after he'd stammered while saying his name when introducing himself as "Do-do-dodgson." Dodgson quickly snatched the book from her and slid it into his coat pocket.

"Th-that's no-not supposed to be there. I should g-go put it back in its pr-proper pl-lace." He tried to scurry off, but Alyss grabbed the back of his collar and held him back.

"DoDo," she said sternly, holding out her palm to demand the book. Dodgson handed it over obediently. Alyss flipped it open and skimmed the first few pages. "Wow, this is actually pretty interesting, DoDo. Do you mind if I take a look through it?" Dodgson blushed and said it was alright. Alyss thanked him and went to a table to read.

"Ooh, whatcha got there?" giggled a voice from behind Alyss, moments before her claw-glove stopped inches from its owner's face.

"What do you want, Katz?" she questioned. Contrary to Dodgson, Katz was probably Alyss' least favorite Collector. He was suddenly standing on his hands on the table in front of Alyss.

"I just wanted to know what you're reading, that's all. Why can't we just be friends?" he smiled, baring his eerily sharp teeth. Soon after, he was maneuvering to avoid a punch in the mouth.

"Because you annoy me and won't shut up when I'm trying to read." Katz purred sadly.

"Alright, have it your way." The next moment, he was gone.

"…My God he's creepy…"

Alyss travelled back to Jack's room, reading Dodgson's book along the way. About half way there, she heard someone crying and someone else yelling.

"Ugh…those two are at it again I bet…" she said, turning the corner to find Jim the Blue Shirt and Griff playing the two aforementioned roles respectively.

"I told you, my name is James!" Jim shrieked.

"Who cares what your name is, Jimmy? It's not like anyone here even really knows who you are in the first place! Maybe if you'd stop bein' a baby all the time, people'd respect you enough to even acknowledge that you're here!" Griff snarled, just before Alyss' foot connected with his cheek.

"Hey. Onji. Shut up and give the kid a break, wouldja? And Vitello, get your ass off the ground and stop crying." Both of them stood up at attention, having learned long ago by this point not to question Alyss. Alyss walked off, continuing to read as Jim and Griff returned to the kitchen, still arguing under their breath.

"Poppet! Wait up!" Hadner called from behind Alyss, running up to meet her.

"Oh, hey Hadner. What's up?" she asked casually, fiddling with her hair and putting the book behind her back.

"Nothin' much. Say, what's that behind your back, love?" he pointed to her back, his arm resting on the wall just in front of her.

"Oh, it's nothing. Just a book," she said kind of nervously, partially because she didn't want to cause any trouble for DoDo and partially because even after all these months, she still found Hadner's accent charming.

"Ah, I see…So, are you doing anything later? I'd love to take you out to dinner someplace," he smiled at her. Alyss smiled back and shook her head.

"Sorry, Hadner, but I haven't said yes once out of any of the times you asked me. Did you really think I'd change my mind so soon?" Hadner looked confused.

"It's been three days since I last asked. That's plenty of time to change your mind." Alyss chuckled.

"Maybe next time, Hadner."

"Don't get my hopes up," he whined dejectedly.

"Welcome back," Jack said as Alyss walked into the room. She lied down on the bed and continued to read.

"Sup," she said, totally uninterested in Jack at the moment. Jack noticed the book in her hand.

"Hey, that's Dodgson's book." Alyss looked up.

"Have you read it?"

"Nah. I wanted to, but Dodgson always snatched it up before I could get very far." He lied down on the bed next to Alyss and proceeded to read along with her. "Now seems like a perfect opportunity." Alyss pushed him off the bed.

"Sorry. DoDo trusted me with his work, so I won't let anyone else read it." Jack sat up and rested his arms on the bed and his chin on his arms.

"Never figured you'd be such a loyal friend, Alyss. Why don't we get along like that?"

"Because you keep trying to get into my pants," she scolded him, flicking his forehead, with her glove off, of course.

"To be fair, I haven't tried in months."

"Musta been my imagination then," she chuckled. She then went silent for a bit. She closed the book and put it in her bag. "I'm gonna go hit the showers." She made her way out of the room, but came back in to say one last thing. "If you touch my bag, I'm gonna kill you, you know that, right?"

"Right right. Go take your shower. I'll be right here waiting," Jack grinned. Alyss returned the gesture with a slight chuckle and a wave.

Alyss got out of the shower and went back to the lockers, drying her hair. She noticed that someone else was also at the lockers, changing. The woman had long blonde hair, immediately tipping Alyss off that it was Sally. Alyss didn't say anything though. She noticed something she'd never seen before; Sally had a tattoo on her the left side of her back. It was a heart, as a combination of both the shape and the organ, with a crown on top and ribbon wrapped around it with a scepter held by the ribbon. The ribbon was labeled Hart. Before Alyss could say anything, a scalpel went flying past her head and got stuck in a nearby locker.

"Sugar, if yer gonna stare, at least let me know yer there." Sally turned to face Alyss, her long hair covering her chest (which Alyss was thankful for).

"You misspelled 'Heart'," she told Sally, who simply shook her head.

"No I di'n't. Hart's my last name, hon. It's a pun."

Alyss rolled her eye, not really seeing how it was funny. "So…where'd you get it?" she asked, trying to seem friendly.

"From my Mama. It's a family thing. We always give our young this tattoo when they turn old enough." After that, she trailed off and went silent for a minute, as if there was something personal behind it. "So, what about you? You got any kin?" Alyss was quiet.

"I'd rather not talk about it." Sally nodded.

"Aright, I understand. I won't pry any. Anywho, how are things with you and Jackie?" Alyss ignored the question and proceeded to go to her locker and put her clothes back on. "Don't wanna talk 'bout it, huh? That's fine. I don't like talking about my love life either." Again she trailed off. Both of them put their clothes back on in silence, getting the feeling that the other was keeping something from them.

Alyss once again returned to Jack's room and found him lying on the bed, her bag untouched.

"Welcome back, again," he said. Alyss shuffled through her bag and took out the book. She lied down next to Jack and opened the book, holding the book so he could read too.

"I don't think it'd hurt to let you read just a little bit." Jack lit up and kissed Alyss' cheek.

"Thank you, darling," he cheered excitedly. Alyss pushed Jack's face into the wall.

"Don't get too cozy, buddy. I just felt like I should do something to repay you, that's all." Jack blinked.

"I don't need any payment," he said, moving in closer and starting to read. "Just having you here is good enough." Alyss stared at him in silence for a minute as he read.

"Sometimes I wonder about you…"

A few days later, Alyss returned to her job as a Retriever. She'd been on temporary leave on account that she no longer had to work to provide for herself. However, she'd become restless and felt she had to get back out there. She walked through the graveyard, observing her surroundings to see if anyone was there to catch her. There was no one, so she proceeded to open the nearest casket. Just before getting the top off it though, she heard some voices. _Dammit_ she cursed to herself, _How did I miss those guys? _Before putting any more thought into it, she got down low, hiding herself in the shadows of the graves. As the guards passed, Alyss noticed a hole in the wall, leading to the dumping grounds of repo'd corpses. _If I move fast enough, maybe I can hide in there and score some glow… _It was a big risk, as she wasn't exactly close, but she figured she could make it.

She did not. As she started to make the dash, her boot got tangled in an unfortunately placed root, causing her to trip and accidently let out a yelp. She covered her mouth with her hands, but not before several guns were pointed at her. She stood there for a moment in silence.

"…I don't suppose you boys'll let me off with just a warning, huh?" The guards were not amused. Alyss screamed at herself in her head, cursing herself for gambling away her life on something she could easily have gotten later. Before she could get another thought through her mind, several bullets went through her body.

Jack walked away from an unconscious Repo Man, carrying the bag with an appendix in it. Jack looked into the bag and whistled.

"I can't believe it. An appendix. The guys are gonna be so jealous," he smirked to himself, as appendixes were a rare find for the Collectors. "Who the hell gets their appendix replaced anyway?" he chuckled. It really seemed to be a waste of money to pay to get a vestigial organ replaced. "Hm…I wonder how Alyss is doing with her job…"

He made his way to the cemetery, hearing several gunshots mere moments after sneaking in. He ran towards the gunfire and found Alyss bleeding on the ground in front of several guards.

Everything went white.

The next thing Jack knew, a number of guards needed immediate medical attention. They weren't his concern however. Jack rushed over to Alyss and felt her pulse. She was alive, but barely. He picked her up and rushed her back to headquarters, taking every shortcut he could think of.

Jack burst into the base's PA Room, pushed the operator out of the way and pressed the button to turn on the speakers throughout the base.

"All Colored Shirts, report to the infirmary now!" he yelled into the microphone, not bothering to explain why.

Alyss woke up on what appeared to be a hospital bed. She looked around, wondering how she got there. She looked down and saw Jack asleep at the side of her bed, holding her hand tightly. Alyss pulled her hand away quickly, jolting Jack to wake up.

"Jack, what the hell is going on?"

"…Well, you just woke up and then violently woke me up…"

"I mean why am I in a hospital bed?" she demanded impatiently.

"Oh. That…The other day you got hurt on a job. I got you back here as quickly as I could. You needed some organs replaced. Fortunately, I had plenty to spare." Alyss looked at Jack's hands and saw they were a bit red, as if he'd gotten a lot of blood on them and could only wash some of it off.

"How long have you been sitting there?"

"Since the surgery ended."

"Which was when?"

"Four days ago." Alyss stared at him, wondering whether or not Jack had eaten in that time. She noticed Dodgson's book on the nightstand next to her. Along with it were a basket of food, some playing cards, and an assortment of other get-well-soon cards. Alyss turned back to Jack and noticed he had bags under his eyes. She shook her head.

"Jack…sometimes I wonder about you…"


End file.
